Charlotte Mason Approach

Charlotte Mason (1842 –1923) was a Christian British educator who created a unique approach to education which was captured in series of lectures that were later published. Today her philosophies and methods are being used in homeschools around the world.

Miss Mason’s motto was that "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life". She believed that children should be educated through their natural environment, the training of good habits and exposure to living ideas and concepts.

She also stated that "Education is the science of relations" and meant that children have minds capable of making their own connections with knowledge and experiences. The child should learn about nature, science and art, know how to make things, reads many living books and be physically fit.

The Charlotte Mason Education is characterized by the use of “living books” rather than the snippets of information available in textbooks. A living book is one that is written by a subject expert, often in a narrative style and engages the student. After listening or reading a piece, children are expected to tell back or write in their own words (narrate) what they have learned.

Books:

“A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning” by Karen Andreola

“A Charlotte Mason Education” by Catherine Levison

“Charlotte Mason Study Guide, Penny Gardner”

Articles

A summary of Miss Mason’s top 20 principles of education

Homeschooling without homework by Karen Andriola

Wikipedia article

South African Curriculum Suppliers:

Love2Learn is literature rich

International Curriculum Suppliers:

Sonlight

Free curriculum:

Ambleside Online

Simply Charlotte Mason